OBJECTIVE: To elucidate the relationship between glycosphingolipid and glycoprotein patterns of cell surface membranes of primary tumor and the formation of metastasis. BACKGROUND AND APPROACH: Two tumors, HS-1 and HEP-3, both of human origin, were cultured on the chorioallantoic membrane of chick embryos. Under experimental conditions HS-1 does not metastasize, whereas HEP-3 metastasizes extensively into chick embryo lungs. HEP-3 was found to contain approximately 2.5-fold less lipid-bound sialic acid as compared with the amount in HS-1 due to a severalfold smaller content of monosialoganglioside and disialoganglioside in the lipid extract of HEP-3. Treatment of HEP-3 with a quinazoline derivative, which stops formation of metastases, substantially increases the amount of lipid-bound sialic acid in this tumor due to increases in the content of hematoside, monosialoganglioside and disialoganglioside. All the above described experiments were performed on whole cells; however, the results apparently have a bearing on ganglioside content in plasma membranes since gangliosides are predominantly concentrated in that part of the cells. In the next stage of the development of this project we are planning to select a new tumor model system from among spontaneous and transplantable animal tumors which will extensively metastasize in the earlier period of malignant growth and respond to specific pharmolocogical agents by exhibiting both a significant decrease in the formation of metastases and an alteration of its glycoconjugate patterns (both glycosphingolipids and glycoproteins). Plasma membranes will be isolabeled from progenitor cells, from metastasizing and nonmetastasizing primary tumor cells and from metastatic cells, and their glycoconjugate patterns will be determined. In the host stage of this project we will investigate the effect of altered plasma membrane glycoconjugate patterns upon cell adhesiveness.